21 troops killed in ambush in south Syria: monitor

BEIRUT — Armed men killed 21 Syrian soldiers, heading to arrest a former opposition commander, in an ambush in Daraa province on Tuesday, a war monitor said.
“At least 21 members of the Fourth Armored Division and the regime’s intelligence units were killed in an ambush by militants,” said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The soldiers were heading to the Al-Mzairib district in the rural west of the province when militants loyal to the former opposition commander opened fire at them seeking to thwart his capture, Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said.
“The militants attacked two military trucks and two small buses carrying regime forces,” he added.
That sparked a gunfight which forced Damascus to deploy reinforcements to the area, Abdul Rahman said.
Russia-backed regime fighters recaptured Daraa from rebels in 2018, in a symbolic blow to the anti-government uprising born there in 2011.
State institutions have since returned, but the army is still not deployed across the whole province, the Observatory says.
Many former rebels stayed instead of evacuating under a Moscow-brokered deal, either joining the army or remaining in control of parts of the province. They were allowed to keep their light firearms.
Al-Mzairib is among the districts controlled by former opposition forces.
Since it came under regime control, Daraa has witnessed a spate of bombings and assassinations targeting regime forces, former opposition figures and civilians. Most of them remain unclaimed.
Syria’s war has killed more than 388,000 people and displaced millions since it started with anti-government protests in 2011.

21 troops killed in ambush in south Syria: monitor